Dark Helmet's Favorite Posts Of The Week 3: The Reckoning

from the these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things dept

Hey, everyone! Mike asked me to do the favorites post this week, and I'm really excited. I've never done this before, so hopefully I don't screw it up.

For my first favorite post, I'd like to offer up me. Yes, a simple click on my profile will give you access not only to some of the most cleverly written prose this side of an Irish poet, but in one of them I even included a cat picture! Cats! On the internet! How did nobody think of this before?

That said, there were other posts that tickled my facepalm bone this week as well. Take for instance the admission of DHS Boss Janet Napolitano that she doesn't have email or use online services. I had originally thought that the most plausible explanation for this would be that she's actually a puffer fish, but nope, full blown human being there. The absuridity of a modern civil servant having enforcement control over a common set of tools without ever using them is astounding. I'll be going to the DMV this weekend (I may even be there at the time this goes live) and I'm having a hard time imagining myself marching up to the Department of Motor Vehicles boss, asking him how he got to work that day, and having him reply, "I walked of course, young man. I wouldn't want to get in one of those automobile thingies. They're freaking dangerous."

Let's follow that up with the good news that more people are realizing the truth about regulatory capture in the telco industry in these United States Of Slow Freaking Internet Connections. I'm lucky enough to be in the 3rd largest market in the country, so I at least have some choices, but they're still expensive compared to other countries throughout the world. Still, think about small, rural areas and the limited and expensive choices they have. Hell, each time he hits refresh on the Techdirt home page, my friend Tim Cushing has enough time to go milk the cows and fashion another belt from a rope in that high school graduating class of a town he lives in before the browser is done loading. And he has to sacrifice a family member every third moon for that service.

Speaking of Tim Cushing, I dug his piece on Dinesh D'Souza and his claim of a conspiracy against the film 2016: Obama's America, involving members of the President's campaign uploading the film to YouTube in order to decrease ticket sales. Never mind that this would be a curious strategy for the campaign, being as how then the movie, which is less than kind to President Obama, would be free for anyone everywhere to see. I won't get into politics here, and anyone who has discussed politics with me on this site knows that I'm an equal opportunity hater for both parties, but if you are one of those people who wants to tell me how "smart" and "thoughtful" and "not incredibly limited in both intelligence and personality" D'Souza is, go jump on YouTube and look up the debate he had with Christopher Hitchens and get back to me.

And finally, I'll include Glyn Moody's piece on the effect the Megaupload fiasco is having. Anything that helps more people put copyright into the proper perspective is welcome, even if it takes highlighting some of the ridiculous actions by government bodies. This is not to excuse infringement (I'm forced to include this statement or else Average Joe will ego-gasm all over the comments again), but to blow it so far out of proportion as does the case against Dotcom is ridiculous.

Phew, got through it. Wasn't quite sure if I'd make it, but I did. So until next week, Techdirters, keep it classy.